Elected Republicans in the Trump era have consistently failed to rein in the president, even after he lobs racist attacks at fellow lawmakers.
Writing in the Washington Post, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin can't help but reach the conclusion that the GOP is beyond redemption after kowtowing to Trump's most extreme policies and statements.
First, she observes that any lawmakers with a shred of sanity are resigning rather than seek re-election during a Trump administration.
"Sane Senate Republicans and critics of President Trump, including Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) as well as a slew of House Republicans, retired in 2018 rather than face the challenge of reelection in the Trump era," she writes.
"Over the past two weeks, six Republican House members — including one of only 13 women (Susan Brooks of Indiana) and the only African American (Will Hurd of Texas) — have announced their retirement, bringing the total to eight."
And even as Democrats are electing more diverse officials than ever, Republicans are primarily male and white. And they refuse to push back on Trump.
"Since Trump’s election I’ve suggested that the current Republican Party is irredeemable," Rubin writes. "A party so thoroughly corrupted and devoid of intellectual and moral integrity cannot be rescued from itself."
"The only plausible path at this point is to crush the Republican Party so resoundingly at every level that it is forced to abandon Trumpism, recruit an entirely different generation of leadership and devise an agenda that is not based on right-wing nationalism," Rubin concludes. "Helping Democrats achieve that end should be the goal of all decent Americans — including Republicans who want one day to be able to vote in good faith for a Republican Party true to the tradition of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt."